In the spring of 2017 I had the chance to sit down with Mitski to talk about music, self-care, and what was happening in her life at the time as she transitioned from being an IYKYK indie artist to being very well known across the globe. During that conversation she said a bunch of thoughtful, incredibly tender things, but this part has always stuck with me:

“I think the most important process for understanding the world and what’s going on in yourself is to name things. We name streets, flowers, people, experiences, identities – we need to name a thing in order to make sense of it. I think songwriting is another naming process, where you give a name to a big muck inside you, or at least a little part of the big muck, in order to feel like you know it, and know where to put it. So I could say that writing songs has been a gateway to a deeper understanding of myself, but I actually think songwriting has given me a much simpler understanding of myself, in that all these messy, dark, unknowable things can be named, and become 3-minute songs to put on an iPhone instead of stirring in the big goop of the mind.”

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MITSKI x LOGAN LYNN

“Naming The Big Muck Inside You”

Read our chat in full HERE.

This whole thing has been a dream come true and I still kinda can’t believe it. Thank you to Slim Moon and the entire Kill Rock Stars family for believing in me and making a home for my songs at KRS. I love y’all so much.

Thanks also to my forever collaborator and songwriting partner Gino Mari for being the very first producer to really get it — and for still getting it all these years later. 🖤

📸 Polaroid 600 Film, 2021 // #PDXmusic